Month: August 2012

Al Jazeera “Poets of Protest” Series

Al Jazeera’s “Poets of Protest” series — which promises to document the lives and landscapes of Egyptian poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, Syrian Hala Mohammed, Lebanese Yehia Jaber (another video of Jaber here), Iraqi Manal al-Sheikh, Palestinian Mazen Maarouf, and Algerian al-Khadra — is set to begin tomorrow. Arab Literature (in English) blog has this to say on the series: The first “Artscape” portrait will be of vernacular poet Fouad Negm, who was also recently featured in a disappointing Egyptian … Read more Al Jazeera “Poets of Protest” Series

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Arctic Ice, Pre-Obit

Below, the opening paras of an excellent article in Think Progress/ Climate Progress. You can read the full piece here. Why The Arctic Sea Ice Death Spiral Matters By Joe Romm on Aug 26, 2012 at 12:25 pm Arctic sea ice extent takes a nosedive this year. What does it mean for us? (Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) By Neven Acropolis with Kevin McKinney In the past week the Arctic sea ice cover … Read more Arctic Ice, Pre-Obit

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Avnery & Krugman

Weirdly enough on the same day (yesterday — while I was listening to Žižek on Hegel) I received the weekly Uri Avnery column (which talks about Ayn Rand), Paul Krugman’s column in the NYTimes also adressed Rand. The obvious link  is Paul Ryan, of course. Here is Avnery’s piece: Uri Avnery August 25, 2012  The Fountainhead I WAS not interested in Paul Ryan, the man about to be nominated by … Read more Avnery & Krugman

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A Blast from the Past

It’s pre-6 a.m. thus too early to think, so here’s a shot of 4 beatles talking to 1 ass (more, nay, a whole gallery of such pix from a Beatles gathering in 1969 at Tittenhurst Park, John & Yoko’s residency, can be viewed  here).

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Happy B-Day Claude Debussy!

Claude Debussy would be 150 today. You can listen to a range of his music here (on the fabulous Russian music site which you can translate with a right-click) or for furrin-fobicniks check here, or travel via the usual youTube where a good way in is to start with the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun here. Informative page from the Oxford Companion to Music here. Or go to the rather … Read more Happy B-Day Claude Debussy!

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Ody Roos’ Homage to Chris Marker

On the way back to NYC from the Pyrenees we stopped over in Paris for two days & spent a fair amount of time with my old friend, the Luxembourgian film maker Ody Roos. Talk of course went immediately to the sad news of his friend Chris Marker’s death — then Ody pulled a thumbdrive from his pocket & handed it to me. It contained an homage video he had put … Read more Ody Roos’ Homage to Chris Marker

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White Terrorists and Others

Top Ten Differences Between White Terrorists and Others By Juan Cole, Informed Comment 10 August 12 White terrorists are called “gunmen.” What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn’t that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, “terrorists.” White terrorists are “troubled loners.” Other terrorists are always suspected of being part of a global plot, even when they are obviously troubled loners. Doing … Read more White Terrorists and Others

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